Welcome to Level 7
by Lenora
Summary: Agent Melinda May only trusts one person to protect Director Phil Coulson's back when she cannot be there. Thankfully, that person shows up at the Playground to offer their services to the newly minted SHIELD director.


A/N: I've had this idea in my head since I finished watching season 1 of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D and I finally sat down to get it written. As this is the first time I will be writing the characters of Skye and May, please excuse any OOC moments. This is basically practice for a future piece set in the Shakespeare in the Park series that deals with Season 1 episodes.

**Welcome to Level 7**

Agent Melinda May stood at the hanger bay doors of the Bus, staring at the controlled chaos of the Playground base. Despite only putting out feelers for loyal SHIELD agents a week ago, several had already come to the location to rest and regroup. Despite, or perhaps _because_ of, the fact that they had all been vetted by the Koenig who ran the Playground, May did not trust any of the agents except for the team. So, while Director Phil Coulson worked in his office on the Bus, May stood guard at the entrance. Just in case, she justified to herself.

May tensed as she felt someone walk up beside her but then she let herself unclench as she recognized the scent of Skye's shampoo. That meant it was one of her girls approaching and they were the exact opposite of a threat to Phil. Skye stepped up beside May and tried to mimic May's stance, causing May to quirk her lips in a hint of a smile.

Skye, being Skye, noticed and immediately grinned at her new SO. "So...I was talking with Simmons earlier during my usual Simmons-watching shift, and she told me something interesting." Skye broke off and watched a nervous looking tech scuttle across the hallway before speaking again. "She said that A.C.'s cellist girlfriend is completely off the table. Isn't that a good thing? Doesn't that mean you can go for it?" she asked. When May looked at her with her patented death glare, Skye held up her hands in surrender. "It was kinda obvious the last week or so," she confessed.

May looked back in the direction of the hallway. "Even if there might have been something there," she said tightly. "I'm not saying there were feelings there," she stressed, "the reveal of my spying for Fury broke the trust Coulson held for me. Losing Audrey for good doesn't change that." She cocked her head as she heard the familiar drone of a Quinjet landing. "Besides," she said with that little non-smile she excelled at, "someone got there first."

Skye was about to ask what the hell May was talking about when a blond man was buzzed into the complex by Triplett. Skye thought that he looked familiar as he began walking towards the Bus, his shoulders tense up until he caught sight of May. Usually someone got even more tense as the caught sight of the legendary "The Cavalry", but this man seemed to actually _relax_ when he saw her. Skye watched as May jerked her head in the direction of the Bus and actually let the man walk past them towards Coulson's office. It was only when he glanced in Skye's direction as he passed that she recognized him. "That's _Hawkeye_!" she hissed at May.

May nodded and began dragging Skye away from the plane. If there was one person in the world she trusted to have Coulson's back and keep him safe, it was Clint Barton. Unfortunate brainwashing by Asgardians with Daddy-issues notwithstanding. She pushed Skye into the nearest room so that they could have their conversation out of view of others.

"How do you know he's not HYDRA?" Sky immediately asked. May couldn't help it, she snorted at the question. "It's a valid question!"

May shook her head in amusement. "It would be, if you didn't know how Barton was brought into SHIELD. He's always been Coulson's asset. His loyalty has never been to SHIELD, it's always been Coulson he was loyal to. So no, it's not a valid question or even a question at all." Eventually she managed to get Skye to start a Tai Chi routine while May stared out the window at the hanger bay doors of the Bus. Even if she trusted Barton to protect Phil, there was no reason she couldn't have their back either.

XxXxX

Clint Barton stared around the frankly impressive plane that his handler had been running around in for the last year. He would never admit it if asked, but he was kinda in love with this plane. His palms itched to take it out for a spin but he didn't fancy being eviscerated by Melinda May for taking her plane out without permission. He stopped beside the impressive bar when he realized that he didn't know where the hell Coulson was on this beauty.

"Do you plan on sulking out there Skye or are you coming up?" Coulson's voice sounded from above, almost answering Barton's silent inquiry.

"I don't know who the hell Skye is, but can I come up?" Clint asked, silently counting seconds until Coulson emerged from wherever he was hiding.

"Clint?" Coulson's feet appeared on the spiral staircase, eventually revealing the welcome face of his handler. Clint couldn't help the blinding grin when he saw the man for the first time in two years, alive and looking exhausted. But he was alive, that was the most important thing.

"Hey Boss," Clint sighed, his eyes taking in every detail of the other man's appearance. "Uh, got your message."

"What message?" Coulson asked, stopping right in front of Clint, almost as if he couldn't believe the other man was there.

Clint frowned. "I got a message in the Srike Team Delta code giving me the coordinates to this place. Thought it was from Tasha at first since you know, you were dead." Coulson looked apologetic but Clint just waved it away. "I get it, Fury bullshit as usual. He knew that nothing would keep me from finding you if I knew you were alive." He waved his hands like his presence on the plane proved his point. "However, Tasha called me and asked me if I was the one that sent it. That's when we figured out that you had to be alive, so I came first to check it out. Knew you were here as soon as I saw The Calvary."

Coulson coughed a laugh. "She'll murder you slowly if you call her that again," he said wryly. He couldn't miss Clint's look of relief at the laugh even if he tried. "Come here," he whispered gently, pulling Clint into the hug he'd been wanting to give the other man since he woke up. "I don't blame you." Clint kind of sagged and clung to Coulson, the only person that he cared about that he hadn't heard that from.

"Thanks Boss," he breathed into Coulson's neck, raising gooseflesh. Coulson didn't answer and just curled his hand into Clint's hair on the back of his head and pulled him closer.

They stood like that for what seemed like an eternity before Clint's Starkphone chimed in his pocket. He grumbled as he pulled himself from Coulson's arms and checked it. "Were you aware that Stark is a mother hen?" he grumbled as he tapped something out on the screen. When he finished, he stashed it back in the back pocket of his pants and looked straight at Coulson. "Okay, quick question. Do you think Blake was HYDRA?"

Coulson made a face. "Definitely not," he stated. "However, it doesn't matter. When SHIELD agents went to retrieve him from his hospital room, he had been removed by unknown parties. He's likely dead," he stated with a broken look on his face. They had been friends for a long time, his disappearance tugged at his heart.

Clint shook his head. "When it all went down, before she released the files, Tasha asked Bruce and Tony to get Blake out of where he was hospitalized. We knew how much he meant to you, we wanted him safe. He's been at Stark Tower with a squadron of Stark's personal doctors and Bruce keeping an eye on him. This base is big enough to have an infirmary, right?" Coulson nodded. "The doctors and Blake are on their way here now. All of the doctors have signed a confidentiality contract on top of the typical doctor-patient confidentiality. They're a couple hours out, ready to move if it's okay." Coulson didn't even bother to contact Koenig, he gave the approval right there.

XxXxX

Two hours later, a large medical plane touched down on the private runway for the Playground. The hanger bay doors opened to reveal a team of doctors escorting a stretcher bearing the sedated form of Agent Blake. Doctor Bruce Banner followed the team with a satchel full of Agent Blake's medical forms both from the hospital he had been admitted to and the chart the team that had him now had filled out.

Jemma Simmons stood a few feet away to escort the team to the infirmary, already knowing every path to the room from spending time with the recovering Leo Fitz.

Clint, Coulson, Skye, and May stood off to the side, watching the procession of the medical personnel as they shuffled past. However, what shocked three of the four was the people that stepped off of the plane after them.

"Hey Agent, were you planning on telling us you were alive?" Tony Stark asked, leading the full complement of Avengers off of the plane, plus Pepper Potts, Maria Hill, Darcy Lewis, Jane Foster and Sam Wilson.

"Surprise?" Steve Rogers asked, a small quirky grin on his face at the pole-axed looks on the agent's faces.

Coulson, for his part, just looked at the ceiling and asked in a very dry tone, "Why me?"

To say the sight of super heroes and agents giggling like schoolgirls shocked the hell out of Billy Koenig when he entered the main hanger was an understatement. However, to his credit, he just offered to get them fitted for lanyards.

THE END

2nd A/N: So apparently I'm not the only one to wonder where the hell Clint was. Anyway, the last third of this story was based off of the fact that I ADORE Blake. I know he was only in like 3 episodes, but I just love him. And I don't know if anyone noticed this, but he actually touched Lola at the end of F.Z.Z.T. As far as I know, he's the only one to not be told 'Don't touch Lola' which automatically makes him awesome in my eyes. I also adored Garrett, so I may not be the best judge of character on these characters. Though I'll freely admit that my love for both Blake and Garrett came mostly because of the absolutely amazing story "Jemma Simmons and her Boy Toys" on AO3. Seriously, look it up, it's amazeballs. Hope you enjoyed the story.


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